No Holds Barred
by InkwellRaven
Summary: RobRae Week 2019 writing prompt "Training" Raven is less than enthusiastic about yet another training exercise, until Robin announces that there are no rules except to take down the rest of the Titans. Raven's interest piques as she realizes she might finally have an advantage of their leader and current training champion.


Legailities: I do not own or own rights to the Teen Titans

**No Holds Barred**

"Okay, Titans, you know the drill!"

Robin's voice rang out over the grounds and brought the Titans to attention. They had all convened on the field where Cyborg had claimed to have built "the ultimate of all training courses" waiting to see exactly what he and their enigmatic leader had in mind for them.

"Cyborg has built us, what he claims, is the ultimate venue to our abilities and I think it would be a shame to waste something so cutting edge."

Raven's eyes rolled to the sky above them. Yet another training exercise that she would find pointless and trivial. She knew that the training was important, but her powers were so different than the others and she found Cyborg usually didn't compensate for them well. Not that she belittled his skills or abilities. She _knew_ what a genius he really was, but she was so . . . hard to understand and thus hard to predict and prepare for.

"So we're going to play a familiar game . . . with a twist," Robin continued, his feathers a little ruffled feeling Raven's discontent though their bond and trying to chose to ignore it. "Last One Standing. New rules . . . there are none. No limitations, no penalties. You fight as if you were fighting for your life. Take out the rest of the Titans and be the last one not incapacitated. I will remind you that this is a live fire exercise so injuries are a very real possibility so everyone is to be on their guard."

Raven lifted a brow in sudden interest. No holds barred was not something they did often and it always intrigued her. Robin was usually the best at reading people and was thus usually the winner of such contests. Today had just gotten more interesting as recent events may mean that she might finally have an advantage over the Boy Wonder. A smirk began to grow on her face as Robin laid out the parameters they were to stick to in their game. This training exercise had finally peaked her interest and Robin turned to her suddenly, feeling the rapid shift in her emotional state. She met his gaze and shrugged, throwing him off and she could _feel_ his discontent.

It was a good start. Confusing and disorienting him as to what she felt was crucial as one of the tiny steps it would take to get the advantage over him.

"Cyborg has made these bracelets for us to wear, each one monitoring our vitals and setting an alert when the wearer loses consciousness. Get knocked out, you lose and are no longer in play. The other bracelets will let us know every time someone falls."

Robin tossed the bracelets to each Titan, securing his own on his wrist as he went over the different areas of the training course and the different points that they would be starting from. He gave them their directions and sent them all off to their particular starting point, shooting glances at Raven as he did so which she refused to meet, formulating a plan in her mind from the starting point she had been given.

They dispersed to their start points and Raven's mind ran a mile a minute going through all the possibilities as she tried to slow the flow of the bond she had with Robin so he wouldn't glean any of what she was feeling as she got in position to start.

She heard the alarm blare and saw the timer on the wall beside her start ticking away, one of several through the course she was sure, keeping track of the time it took for there to be a single victor. A time that Robin and Cyborg would be in competition to beat for several months to come, as usual.

She ran ahead into the labyrinth type structure that Cyborg had built, maneuvering her way through the twists and turns, feeling out with her powers to sense if any of her teammates were nearby. She heard the grinding of gears and rose into the air, seeing a wall a few rows over shifting and turning. Cyborg had built the maze to shift on its own accord. Of course he did.

Raven ducked back under the safety of the wall as she saw a flash of bright red hair only a few rows past the newly shifted wall. Starfire would use her ability to fly to her advantage and Raven needed to lay low until she, or someone else, could take out the alien warrior.

She shifted her senses to search for a smaller presence, knowing that Beast Boy would likely choose one of two tactics: go big, or go tiny. Would he favor brute force or the element of surprise? It didn't take long for her to detect something small, moving through the corridors. It would seem like nothing more than a fly except no creature that small put out that many emotions. He was tense, not knowing who he was going to come across first, but he was also cocky in his confidence in his plan. Raven slipped around a corner once she reached a junction that would break the passageway he was in. She waited and when she saw the tiny winged insect pass her she surrounded it with her soul self, feeling when he lost consciousness. She released him and he reverted forms back into his green human body, laying peacefully on the ground, drool already dripping from the corner of his mouth.

His bracelet flashed red and her own buzzed, a digital message stating that Beast Boy had been eliminated from the game. A small flash of pride bubbled up in her as she moved on, sensing for her friends as she went. She took a moment to temper the emotion, diverting her attention from her sensing for a time, for the Sins were problematic emotions for her and it was imperative for her to keep those ones in particular in check.

The focus required for her to quell the draw to Pride's power clouded her focus for a moment and she felt Robin's presence too late. She ducked just before getting hit with an electro disk and heard it sizzle and crackle against the wall behind her.

She turned to face him and saw the cocky smile on his face as they circled each other briefly.

"Not who I was heading for first, but . . ." he trailed off, reaching for his belt.

Raven met his smile with one of her own and she plucked at the bond between them like it was a taut string, sending a visual of a memory along it.

Robin tensed and his hand stayed as the image of himself and Raven tangled in the sheets of his bed, laying on their backs and breathing heavily, flashed unbidden in his mind. The memory made him flush and he felt his nerves tingle as he saw himself in the memory reaching for her and pulling her toward him, his lips brushing against hers before the image faded. He shook his head, and realized that Raven was gone.

Raven suppressed a laugh as she took as many turns as possible in her flight from Robin. She could feel his confusion and his arousal at the memory she had sent to him. This strategy was going to be fun.

It didn't take long for Raven to feel Robin on the move again, heading in the same direction as she was. She kept her senses on his presence as she moved forward and she saw a carefully laid trap just in time to avoid tripping it and cursed.

Cyborg was close by, she could feel now. She must have wandered close to where Cyborg started; she could sense him patrolling a specific area, not diverting from particular halls. His labyrinth was apparently also full of traps and it seemed he wasn't wandering far from this set, waiting for someone to fall into his web.

Raven backtracked, heading away from his claimed territory, but she sensed Robin not far at her back. She altered her route and took another pathway, away from Robin and Cyborg and further into the center of his maze, now on the lookout for traps. She felt Robin slow and take a more cautious and methodical route. No doubt he had found one of Cyborg's traps as well, but he, unlike Raven, was staying in Cyborg's territory. Raven couldn't tell what it was, but she could feel that Robin had a plan.

Starfire was heading her way now, but Cyborg was between her and the alien and it wasn't long before she heard Starfire cry out as a twanging sound reverberated around and a creaking of metal could be heard following soon after. The blasts from Cyborg's sonic cannon flashed over the walls and Starfire's starbolts sent flashes of green to counter.

Smoke rose from where their encounter was taking place and Raven moved away from it, floating above the walls to assess the area before her. The only other flyer still in play was distracted and she was far enough from the others now that she could chance levitation to gain a tactical advantage. She found a portion of the maze that would suit her purposes and mapped it out in her mind, memorizing it for future use and noting the location of the traps.

Her bracelet buzzed again and she looked down to see that, somehow, Cyborg had managed to take out Starfire. She didn't need the bracelet to tell her that, though, as a loud shout of, "Booyah!" came echoing through the maze.

But the cry was cut short into a strangled shout before he could finish.

"Oh, come _on_ man! You gotta be . . . kidding . . me," he trailed off, his voice fading.

Her bracelet buzzed and announced Cyborg's defeat.

_He waited,_ Raven deduced as she formulated her plan. _He saw Cyborg's traps, knew one of us would likely trigger one, and he bid his time until the victor was distracted and weary._

She admired his tactic, but a chill ran down her spine as she realized she would now have to defeat him one on one.

And he was rapidly approaching her.

She maneuvered to the beginning of the area that she had committed to memory and waited, poised to run. Robin turned around a corner and she let him catch a glimpse of her before she started down her winding path. She allowed herself to feel some of the adrenaline and fear of being chased escape, knowing that Robin would feel it and would have a way to track her along her path.

Raven could feel the smug satisfaction as Robin realized that he could track her and she allowed a small smile to cross her face. All according to plan.

The dead end was just ahead of her now and she ran far enough down the path that there were no other turns and deviations for Robin to take in his pursuit of her. Before she got to the end, she phased through a wall to her right, emerging in the parallel corridor and waited for Robin to reach the dead end. She closed her eyes and sent another memory through their bond.

Robin's footsteps faltered for a moment as her scent enveloped him and he was taken into a vision of them in the living room of Titans Tower. He hovered over the skin on her neck, close enough to breathe in her scent but not touching her yet. He could feel how much the near touch affected her and when his lips finally made contact with her skin at the junction of her shoulder and neck the same electric spark that coursed through her coursed through him. He laid a trail of kisses up the column of her throat before finally pressing his lips against hers. Their first kiss.

He shook the image out of his head, his emotions torn between the passion of the vision and the seething anger at Raven's dirty tactics.

Raven heard his footsteps approach and slow as he got sight of the wall before him with no Raven in sight. He swore.

Then the trap sprang to life.

Raven laughed as a string of curse words erupted from the other side of the wall and she phased through it, looking over at Robin as he tried to break out of the metal coils holding him in place from Cyborg's trap that she had led him into. He had been distracted from what he believed to be his guaranteed victory and she had exploited it. She stood beside him as he glared at her.

She shrugged at him. "You said no rules, Boy Blunder."

But his face couldn't hold the glare much longer. A knowing smile crossed his face as he shifted in the confines of his trap, showing Raven his other side. He held his bo staff away from his body with his foot, creating a space between the coils big enough for him to escape through. He had played her. He waved confidently with his completely free left hand.

"Shit," she spat, as she turned to phase through the wall once more, but Robin was faster than it fair for him to be. Her back slammed against the opposite wall, his staff held across her body under her rib cage, effectively pinning her body and her arms against the metal at her back.

"It was effective, Rae," he breathed into her ear. "The dirty tricks and then leading me into Cyborg's trap while I was distracted. But I'm afraid I've won, Love."

"It's not over yet, Wonder Boy."

Robin pulled back and felt her pluck at the bond again. Before she could send him whatever lucid memory she was planning on to distract him, he brought his lips crashing down against hers. She inhaled sharply in surprise before sinking into the kiss. Robin reached for his belt to grab a tranquilizing dart.

"Going to have to try harder next time," Raven said.

His hand froze at his belt. His lips were on hers and yet she was speaking clearly. A cold sense of dread ran through him as he opened his eyes and found that he was still trapped by the coils, but his foot had slipped from its hold of the staff and he was now effectively tangled. She had gotten him lost in a memory before he had been able to spring from the trap and had gotten him to lose the advantage that he had created, too.

She was panting and leaning against the wall. Sending memories through their bond had been one thing, but creating a vision of something that hadn't happened was far more taxing than she had anticipated. She hadn't even been sure that it was something she could _do_ but there had been a split second before she realized his upper hand and him taking advantage of it. She had done what she did, creating a false vision for him, out of instinct. But it was something she knew she'd never do again. She felt sick, as if using her powers that way had been a perversion. And it had taken so much out of her.

As Robin leaned his head back and shook it in disgust that he had lost, he saw her soul self surround him before a flash of white sank him into unconsciousness.

O • O • O • O

Robin awoke in the med bay, his head ringing slightly but no worse for wear than that. He looked around him and found Raven at his bedside, a half sheepish, half smug look on her face.

"Cheating, Raven," he groaned as he tried to sit up. Holding onto her shoulder as he waited for the dizziness to pass. "All the . . . imagery you planted every time I was about to catch you, cheating. Creating a false vision at the end to prevent me from escaping and taking you down . . . extra cheating."

"You said no rules, Boy Wonder," she reminded him again mockingly, but brushing his hair from his forehead in a tender gesture as she did. Her lips offered no apology for the way she had won, but her eyes did, a gentle and soothing look washing over him.

Robin didn't have a response as he sighed in defeat and plopped his head down on her shoulder. She let out a small, throaty laugh and leaned her head toward his ear.

"Let me make it up to you?" she breathed, the hairs on his neck rising at the gesture. "No rules tonight either?"

He lifted his head quickly and looked into her eyes as she winked at him.

"Same time, same place?" she asked, rising from her chair and walking toward the door. "You didn't win today, Wonder Boy, but maybe you'll come out on top tonight."

With that she laughed and the door closed behind her. Robin laid back down on his pillow, his hands behind his head, smiling as her pictured all the imagery she had put into his head during their competition and all the other memories of their nightly trysts that he had stored in his own memory. If _this_ was the tradeoff for losing in training then he might just have a losing streak coming.


End file.
